In her article, “Lecture Me. Really”, Molly Worthen addresses the issue college students know all too well: how to lecture properly. Published in the New York Times, Worthen writes a passionate article about lecturing but from the perspective of a professor. Worthen presents the idea that lecturing, although some may think ineffective in the classroom, is a way to truly challenge and engage students into critically thinking. Worth dictates this idea with an excellent build up logical argument but lacks the proper evidence to support her claims creating a faulty argument. In her article, Worthen, claims that lecturing the “old fashioned way” is the true and correct way for students to learn in a classroom environment on a higher level. She …show more content…
In a persuasive essay, these are excellent forms of appealing to the audience and guiding them to follow the line of thinking Worthen has. She begins with an anecdote to introduce her struggle as a professor, drawing the readers from the very beginning. With the readers reeled in, Worthen is able to explain how professors understand lecturing to truly be. She emphasizes how they have the best intentions for their students, wanting to push them harder and further than they could imagine. Worthen tied her evidence with every argument that she posed to her reader. Her use of expert opinions stand out due to her frequent use of them. She interviewed an array of professors, along with a student to help emphasis how lecturing has really expanded their horizons of teaching and learning, respectively. Although the evidence may seem a bit faulty due to it strictly coming from her opinions, she does an excellent job tying it with the expert onions she has gathered from different professors. Worthen also gives a student input to help validate all these ideas from the perspective of a former …show more content…
This, paired with most of her argument being built upon options rather than facts diminishes the validity of her argument. Had Worthen addressed the issues that may appear as a counter to note taking or provided evidence that doesn’t rely on strictly options from a few hand picked professors, her article would have done a stellar job in creating awareness of the lecturing loosing its credibility. Worthen could 've easily found statistics to back up her argument concerning lecturing and if that wasn’t possible, a survey could’ve been just as good. Understandingly, the options do address the ethos and pathos of a persuasive essay but the logos is also significant part. One may be on the fence due to its absence when dealing with an
In the argument that college is not for everyone, Reeves establishes his ethos through both extrinsic and intrinsic support while maintaining clarity using the logos approach. Pathos, however, lacked the same amount of control. By using an excess amount of pathos while approaching rhetoric with a condescending tone, the author diminished the persuasiveness achieved by combining the techniques. This resulted in a limited audience due to the insulting nature of the closing remarks geared to the very audience he was trying to reach.
He explains his fear of his students’ opinions of his teaching and then finds himself trying to win over popularity from his students. On the course evaluations, Edmundson observes the “enjoyable” rating, which he then states that he would rather his students be challenged and changed by his teachings than to be having fun without truly learning the curriculum. This is due to the fact that liberal education and general society has completely taken a turn for the worst, which then dives into the discussion on how American culture is today - devoted to consumption and
Loh explains that not every college professor is properly taught how to give a lecture, making it difficult for students to get the correct education from a professor who isn’t trained to explain the material. Various colleges and universities are starting to stray away from the traditional lecture and begin a more hands on approach to teaching a college course, while professors are looking to get rid of the college lecture completely. A research study showed classes that had an interactive approach as opposed to the traditional style resulted in better academic grades and a “36 percent drop in class failures.” Many educators prefer
Making a good and persuasive argument is very much an acquired skill. It requires much practice and perfecting. It takes more than just having passion and making good points. Just because a person is passionate about the topic or has supporting details does not mean they can make a successful argument. Much more thought and skill is required. Gordon Adams, in his letter to the Arizona State University standards committee, demonstrates this quite well. Gordon Adams writes a passionate argument, yet his argument lacks several critical aspects.
Edmundson was considered one of the “interesting” teachers because of the fact he would tell jokes in order to keep the students interested, since it was the one way he figured worked; however, he did not “teach to amuse…or for that matter, to be merely interesting” (Edmundson, Greene-Lidinsky 390). College students get to pick their professors and they have to ability to find out if the professor is to their liking, or else they can just drop the class and/or find a better-suited professor. Edmundson felt as though the student’s “passion seems to be spent,” and that “university culture” is becoming more and more “devoted to consumption and entertainment” (Edmundson, Greene-Lidinsky 391). Furthermore, colleges make it even worse due to the fact that they make the campuses beautiful in order to attract students to apply, so students attend those campuses imagining that the classes will be just as
Annie Murphy Paul’s “Are College Lectures Unfair?” is a well-written research based argument, but is it solid? In her article she questions “Does the college lecture discriminate? Is it biased against undergraduates who are not white, male and affluent?” She spends the rest of her essay providing evidence that active learning would benefit students who are “female, minorities and low income first generation college students”, while passive learning provides a bases for discrimination against the under- privileged. Unfortunately, while making good points, her essay is unfair. I think she’s the one being biased. Her predisposed claim makes it seem like only the teachers are at fault for teaching their students in a passive way by providing such
My portfolio absolutely reflects my understanding of persuasive writing. Persuasive writing focuses on the ability to formulate an essay that takes an argumentative stance, but takes the opposition into consideration as well. My portfolio also represents the goals and objectives of persuasive writing. The essays I have written for this course demonstrate that I have certainly developed my critical thinking skills, and developed, or better yet, mastered my communication and personal responsibility skills; but, because of my occasional lack of analysis and issues with word choice, my writing process is not perfected.
Persuasiveness is a vital skill all authors and essayists must master in order to effectively communicate their ideas. “The Great Person-Hole Cover Debate: A Modest Proposal for Anyone Who Thinks the Word “He” Is Just Plain Easier…” (Person-Hole Cover Debate) written by Lindsy Van Gelder is a poor example of how to construct a persuasive essay. This essay can be deconstructed into three key areas which are used to judge an essays persuasiveness. Failure to achieve effectiveness in these areas deem a persuasive essay ineffective. These areas include persuasive essay fundamentals, literary devices, and features. “Person-Hole Cover Debate” fails its goal of persuading the audience to comprehend and eventually agree with the thesis of the essay.
When I first read the title of the article “The Problem with Lecturing” I was immediately drawn to the subject at hand. Being a student who has struggled in the past with the teaching method of lecture classes, I was curious as of what aspect Emily Hanford was going to write about. I was curious to see what appeal she would use to make her point. Would she use ethos, logos, pathos or a combination of all three? And at what point would her kairos moments appear. To my delight, Emily touched base on may different aspect of the problem with lecturing including, but not limited to, testing understanding once lectured (ethos), professors taking the matter to heart of its lack of effectiveness (pathos) , and the importance of professors changing the way they teach/lecture in a classroom setting(logos). Hanford also remarked that Professors have long been aware of the problem with lecturing student, but most are not sure of how to make the needed change. While others feel there is no need make changes to what is, as they believe is “working well”. This last statement however was not clear as what she was trying to convey in her article, which may leave the readers confused of what her actual point is. For example is she looking for a change or is she just expressing an issue that exists.
Tagg, John. “Why Learn? What We May Really Be Teaching Students.” About Campus. 2004. Print.
As we worked our way through the semester we moved from the Change Project to the Public Argument. I was able to look back at how one essay was developed into multiple essays. The type of paper I was writing determined how I was able to persuade my audience. The audience of the papers changed throughout the semester making the way I developed my paper also changed. In one essay I used the sources to persuade the readers towards agreeing with me. In the other essay I used my own words and thoughts to grab the reader’s attention and have them agree with my point of view on the issue. While one essay was a more formal audience and another was more informal the both required persuasion and attention grabbers. One audience was grasped by the use of facts while the other was grasped by talking about experiences and explaining how the topic related to the audience. While the paper was different each paper required some type of persuasion.
I was sitting in one of my college classes when my professor said something in passing that was so profound I’ve never forgotten it. He said, “I would rather my students drink from a running stream than a stagnant pool.” I later learned he was quoting Dr. Howard Hendricks (Teaching to Change Lives: Seven Proven Ways to Make Your Teaching Come Alive), words that resonated strongly—so strongly that they influence me to this day.
A persuasive essay takes a position on a topic and attempts to prove that position.
Research and Argument are probably two of the most interesting forms of writing and literature to learn about, to me, because I am a person who is critical and a perfectionist. I first realized this when I was peer reviewing and editing a friend’s paper during my freshman year of high school. During this process, I wrote some many notes on their paper that at the end, you could have almost mistaken the paper as a piece of modern art. Arguments, on the other hand, are completely different. Arguments all I need to believe in something are facts and that the argument sounds logical. So, it was interesting to learn about the three main modes of persuasion in this class.
Throughout my time as being a college student so far, asking questions in class has proven to be one critical step into being a good college student. Asking questions in college is something many student take for granted and they don't realize the importance of it until it's too late. I can admit i don't ask a lot of questions in class for various reason and from my personal experience i have notice what it can result to because it ends up showing in my scores within that class. In this essay i will disguise the difference between a higher-level questions and a lower-level questions.I will also explore why some college student fail to ask questions in class and why they refuse to go to their professor’s office hours when they need help and